LONDON – The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 scaled new peaks on Monday, with investors awaiting the start of the second-quarter earnings season and a batch of economic data.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index eased moments after hitting a fresh high, while six of the 11 major S&P sectors advanced in early trading.

The S&P 500 technology, communication services and consumer discretionary sectors, which house mega-cap technology stocks Tesla Inc, Apple Inc, Facebook Inc and Amazon.com, led gains.

Energy and other economy-linked value stocks declined after rebounding sharply on Friday.

At 10:04 am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 84.93 points, or 0.24 percent, at 34,955.09, the S&P 500 was up 4.41 points, or 0.10 percent, at 4,373.96, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 20.22 points, or 0.14 percent, at 14,681.70.

An upsurge in infections of the Delta coronavirus variant capped equity and commodity gains, and kept bond yields just above multi-month lows.

Worries about the global economic outlook were highlighted further as finance ministers from the 20 largest economies warned of risks from fast-spreading virus variants such as Delta.

The variant has caused record rises in infections in Australia, where another lockdown looks imminent. South Korea's capital Seoul is under the toughest anti-COVID curbs so far, while cases continue to rise across Asia and Europe.

While Japanese and other Asian bourses rose, tracking Wall Street's record Friday close, the momentum later fizzled and a pan-European equity index traded flat. Growth-reliant mining, bank and auto stocks fell 0.5 percent-1.2 percent.

US futures reflected similar concerns – industrials-heavy Dow Jones futures were down almost half a percent while S&P 500 futures slid 0.2 percent. But futures for the Nasdaq – tech-heavy and benefiting from lower yields – rose 0.2 percent.

"This situation is certainly a concern to the opening up trade," Deutsche Bank analyst Jim Reid said, highlighting the rising virus caseloads, including in the United States.

MSCI's all-country equity index was up 0.2 percent, while Chinese blue chips rose 1.1 percent, trading off Friday's reserve ratio cut.  

Colin Asher, senior economist at Mizuho in London, said the Delta resurgence notwithstanding, for markets with better vaccination rates traders would focus on monetary policy.

"For (developed) markets, it's clearly a weight but it's not the main focus," Asher said, noting for instance that Britain's full reopening would likely boost consumer demand further and allow the Bank of England to raise interest rates next year.

The Bank of Japan, the Bank of Canada and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will meet this week, with the latter two expected to signal their path out of ultra-easy monetary policies.

US inflation data due Tuesday will be particularly watched after the recent bond rally which sent US 10-year Treasury yields 15 basis points lower at one point.

While markets have since stabilised, yields are not far off 4-1/2 month lows at 1.35 percent, pressured at least partly by investors' rethinking bullish sentiment.

Commodity prices too were subdued, with Brent crude futures slipping 1 percent while copper also skidded 1 percent on the London Metal Exchange.

Earnings week

The next question is whether company earnings will support Wall Street's run higher.

Expectations for a 65 percent rise from the same 2020 quarter, according to Refinitiv. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and other big banks kick off results from Tuesday.

On currency markets, the US dollar rose US$0.20 against a basket of currencies at 92.4.

In the euro zone, comments by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde pressured the euro and regional bond yields after she said the bank would change its guidance on policy at its next meeting and show it is serious about reviving inflation.

The euro slipped 0.3 percent on the day to US$1.184 while Germany's 10-year yield was down 2 basis points to -0.31 percent, nearing last week's three-month low at -0.34 percent.